Ghost Stories
by princesspandapui
Summary: Vincent and Reno get stuck with each other after a city raid. Look what happenes when Reno decides to tell a ghost story and Vincent isn't impressed ...


**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of the Final Fantasy�characters ... although if I did Vincent, Reno, Squall�and Cloud would all be in my bedroom P**

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**Final Fantasy - Ghost Stories**

The sky was dark now. The turrets of smoke that rose from the burnt city were only just visible; thin, wispy, and white against the deep star-less purple. The shallow rocky valley that surrounded the city loomed with shadows and swarmed with creatures, scuttling between the crevices, away from the smoke and flames below. It had taken three days to destroy the city, and everyone connected with the T.A Program inside.

Vincent Valentine – gunman and former Turk – strode up the path with lengthy strides, his favoured handgun Cerberus held out at his side, red cloak whipping in the fierce night wind. His face was white in the moonlight, expressionless, his eyes blank, and he stared about taking in every tiny detail. Behind him skulked Reno, his hands shoved in his pockets, shoulder's hunched, head low. He'd found a stone about three-quarters of the way back and was kicking it a little ahead of him, every now and again glancing at the city or at Vincent.

When they reached the top of the valley, sweeping fields of dying grass met them, stretching as far as the eye could see, and in the distance, small and black against the purple, there was the faint outline of a building. Catching sight of it, Vincent glanced over his shoulder at Reno, and halted, waiting until Reno was by his side.

"We'll stop there for the night." He said, his voice low and solemn.

Reno grimaced. "That's a shack…"

Vincent didn't reply and set off, making a path through the grasses. Cursing under his breath, Reno ducked his head again and followed, staring his stone as he left it behind. The shack in fact turned out to be an old warehouse, its walls made from panels of corrugated iron, rusted over time. Its doors were of thick metal unknown, taller than Vincent and wide enough for a small vehicle, and there was a heavy looking chain attached to the handles, holding it shut.

"Hm. No one's home. Let's go." Muttered Reno, turning away and walking off back the way they'd just come.

Suddenly there was an ear-wrenching scrape of metal on metal, and Reno spun around to see that Vincent had penetrated the door with his clawed hand, and, tightening his grip on the torn metal, he ripped the door from its place on the wall. Reno ducked as the door went sailing over his head, and he turned to watch it tumble through the field.

"What the hell!" He yelled.

Vincent strode into the warehouse and looked about, reviewing what was inside and what could be useful. With a scowl Reno stomped in after him.

"You tried to kill me with that flaming door!" He snapped.

There was a click and Vincent had cocked his hand gun, aiming it at Reno's head. "If I wanted to kill you, I'd shoot you." He whispered expressionlessly.

Reno swallowed fearfully, but narrowed his eyes a little until Vincent eventually lowered Cerberus and walked over to a doorway, disappearing through it. Sighing with relief, Reno ran a hand over his face and looked about. The warehouse wasn't that big, and there was nothing in it except for a few crates and an old workbench supporting an empty toolbox and some paint cans.

Noticing a cold wind coming from the now wide open door, Reno scowled again and went outside to gather some wood pieces and grass to make a fire with, and he gathered it all together in the centre of the warehouse and pulled his lighter from his pocket. Ten minutes later he was still crouched by the wood trying to get his once-trusty lighter to work, and suddenly the woodpile burst into flames, causing Reno to jump backwards and scream in alarm. Vincent was standing over him, his arm outstretched towards the now roaring fire, and with a silent fleeting look at Reno he sat down opposite him.

"Would you please warn me when you're about to do something like that! I could have been hurt!" Hissed Reno, getting angrier with the man by the second.

Vincent looked up at him, his face blank but his eyebrows raised very slightly. Scowling, Reno brought his knees up towards his chest and wrapped his arms about them, staring deep into the fire.

"Why you still here anyway?" He hissed in a whisper.

The ex-Turk sifted position slightly and laid Cerberus down close beside him. "If you hadn't been separated from your squad I wouldn't be here." He eventually replied under his breath.

"What! I'll have you know I can take perfect care of myself!"

Vincent raised his eyebrows and allowed himself a small smirk.

"I CAN!" Thundered Reno.

"When I ran into you, you were on the floor." Answered Vincent, quietly and expressionless. "And you were surrounded. That stick you call a weapon three meters away."

Reno growled and jumped to his feet, pulling his Electro-Mag Rod from its strap on his belt, and holding it out. Vincent stared up at him, his eyebrows still raised, and then in the blink of an eye before Reno could do anything, he'd grabbed Cerberus and shot a single bullet at the rod, causing it to go flying backwards from Reno's grip. With a yell, Reno ducked and spun around, following his rod as it hit the far wall and landed on the floor with a thud, twitching a little with electricity.

"What was that for!" He screamed, going to pick it up.

Vincent once again smirked, and put down his gun. "Sit down." He ordered, and with a growl, Reno obeyed.

For a further ten minutes they sat in silence, until eventually Vincent lay down on his back and closed his eyes. Reno pulled a face at him and brought his knees up to his chest again.

"What were you doing in the city anyway?" Hissed Reno, after a further few minutes of complete silence.

Vincent didn't answer at first, his eyes still closed, and Reno thought he was asleep until he heard a low voice answer. "I was investigating Shinra's newest president." A long pause. "Nobure Shiek. He used to own half the factories in Midgar until Shinra exposed him for illegal import of stolen goods."

"Why would he become the president of Shinra if they exposed him?" Asked Reno, frowning a little.

"That's what I'm trying to find out."

Reno frowned deeper.

"So…" Vincent opened his eyes and looked at Reno impassively. "What were you doing?" He asked.

The Turk shrugged. "Some of us don't agree to this Shiek guy."

"So you know about him?"

"Only that he's taken over from Rufus." Muttered Reno.

Vincent nodded and lay back down again, closing his eyes. The night went on, silent but for the wind rattling against the warehouse and whistling through the open door. The fire crackled occasionally, spitting when Reno poked it with a stick. Vincent slept the whole time, or so it appeared, but Reno was too scared to approach him in case he was awake; he didn't want anything to kick off. Secretly the ex-Turk frightened him, although he'd never admit it.

After a few hours of sitting by the fire, Reno got up to explore; his stomach demanding food. Since it was a warehouse and had not been in use for very long, he found almost nothing. The doorway through which Vincent had gone before led into a small office with a bathroom. The office was empty but for a desk and a broken chair, a few papers and broken pencils scattered about on the floor, a coffee stain up the wall and what looked like blood on the floor beside the desk. In the bathroom, the toilet had been shattered somehow – probably the result of a fight – and no water came from the dirty taps when he turned them.

But there was a medicine cabinet above the sink and after some forceful hammering and tugging Reno got it open to reveal shelves of little boxes and bottles and bandages, and what looked like a first aid book, but it had gotten wet and dirty so some of the pages were stuck together. Pulling a face of disgust, Reno held it out and dropped it on the floor, and started to inspect some of the bottles. They were mostly different drugs; pain killers and tranquilisers and sedatives, and some which had no labels and Reno had never seen before.

Sighing, he slammed shut the medicine cabinet door and marched back into the main room. Vincent was lying where he'd left him, as still as anything. Deciding to face his fear and have a bit of fun, Reno crept towards Vincent as carefully as he could, biting his lip and trying not to make a noise. He got as far as a few feet away from the man, and then Vincent's arm shot out and he held his handgun out, aimed for directly in between Reno's eyes.

"Dammit Vince! Why'd you do that?" Complained the Turk, returning to his usual spot by the fire and sulking.

"Can't you leave me alone?" Vincent just replied, slight irritation showing in his voice. "Go to sleep or go stand outside."

Reno scowled. "No."

Opening his eyes, Vincent looked at him.

"You can't tell me what to do!" Continued Reno.

Vincent sat up. "Fine. Then what do you want to do?"

He watched as the Turk thought hard, a small frown on his face, and then he looked up smiling. "Ghost stories!" He exclaimed happily. "Me first!"

"You can't sca—"

"Shush!" Reno held up his hand, and he grinned. "A long plaintive wail emanated from the cardboard box." He started. "Whether Jacob had seen the box or heard the cry first, he could not be sure, but he was certain that the pitiful sound came from the box. At once he was regretting taking the short cut from the Burger bar to the car park; he had always felt uncomfortable using it after dark. The passage between the Record shop and the Butchers was only just wide enough for one person and it was badly lit with a single bulb. Where it opened out behind the shops, anyone could be hiding in the dark out of sight of the High Street, hardly visible in the shadows from the vast empty car park."

Vincent raised his eyebrows and sighed gently.

Seeing this Reno narrowed his eyes a little. "Still he had something else to worry about this time because there was that cry again, audible above the sound of the fans on the refrigeration unit at the back of the Butchers shop. It was a heart rending sound of loneliness, pain and hunger that brought back memories of childhood punishments, when Jacob's mother locked him in his bedroom without any dinner or supper. He could hear her voice even now, all these years later, "You disgusting little monster". What was that awful sound? What should he do about it? Leave it probably, let some one else sort it out. Nobody had helped him then locked in his bedroom or in the dark under stairs cupboard, shivering in his wet pyjamas, his cries drowned out by his mothers ranting and the loud rumble of the washing machine."

"Reno, just stop now. There's no poi—"

"The cry went on long and pathetic, rising and falling in pitch." The Turk continued, slightly louder. "It was probably some kittens, the abandoned and unwanted offspring of a family pet, discarded by a callous owner. If it was and if he opened the box, what then? He would then feel responsible for them, would have to take them home. No, better to leave them for someone else, not his problem. But the cry was echoing round the alley, echoing inside his head, there was something about it that sounded almost human. Perhaps it was a baby shut in the box, he thought, in the dark." He paused, watching Vincent's bored expression. "He couldn't leave a baby shut inside a box, alone in the dark. Jacob knew how that felt, to be shut in, how you could not breathe, how you began to sweat, how you could feel the blood rushing and roaring through your temples and the contents of your stomach rising in your throat. The waves of panic that wash hot and cold through the body."

Vincent yawned.

"Stop it!" Snapped Reno. "At least try and act interested!"

The ex-Turk lay down again. "I'm going back to sleep." He said under his breath, closing his eyes.

"Hey!" Reno threw a random bit of burnt out wood at him. "Wake up! I'm not finished my story!"

"What's the point kid? It's not scary…"

Reno balled his fists, shaking slightly. "Fine! Then you tell a story!"

There was a silence, thick and heavy, in which Reno glared at the man before him, and Vincent just lay there. Eventually the ex-Turk sat up, crossing his legs and looking at Reno with his head slightly lowered.

"I knew a woman once." He started, his voice low and soft. "She was … beautiful. I'd never known anyone like her. Smart, powerful … She used to work for Hojo. Doing experiments for Chaos and Omega. I … I told her I loved her. But she pushed me away. Went back to Hojo."

Reno raised his eyebrows, obviously finding this story very interesting.

"Anyway, she became ill. Started to have visions about … her unborn child … Sephiroth." He paused as Reno let out a strangled yell. "I was … enraged. I confronted Hojo about everything. Their relationship. The experiments. As you can imagine, Hojo wasn't happy. He pulled out a gun and shot me in the stomach."

The Turk pulled a face. "No he didn't."

Vincent sat up and pulled up his cloak and top, revealing a slender toned waist, a single round scar about an inch to the side of his belly-button. "Lucrecia, she took me in and tried to save me by turning to her unfinished thesis on Chaos, Omega and the Lifestream. Eventually she infused me with the stagnant Lifestream she and my father found. However, she also infused me with the Chaos entity. Chaos became increasingly violent and attacking anything in its path. In addition, though it had revived me, my flesh continued to decay and they were sure I'd eventually die. Lucrecia added a special materia, later called the "Protomateria", inside me, which kept Chaos under control … but it failed to stop my degradation."

Reno's eyes went wide. "What happened…?"

"Well. At this point, Hojo took an interest in my … 'unique' condition and proceeded to use my body as a test subject, which eventually stabilized me and rendered me almost indestructible. Due to Hojo's metamorphose experimentation, my whole anatomy was altered to the point where I could temporarily change my physical form into monstrous entities including Chaos itself. Unfortunately, this also sparked Hojo's own interest in Omega and his desire awaken it, bring it under his control and traverse to cosmos once the planet had died." He sighed deeply. "When I finally regained consciousness I was on an operating table. When I found out about what had happened to my body … I thought … I thought it was a punishment. Because I hadn't saved Lucrecia. Because I hadn't stopped the Jenova project. I … I …"

"What?" Pressed Reno, leaning forward slightly. "What did you do?"

Smirking at the Turk's interest, Vincent shook his head slightly. "I punished myself by sealing myself in a coffin in the Shinra Manor basement. Hojo locked me in and protected the key inside a safe along with one of his experimental monsters that attack anyone who opened it. Rendered immortal due to the presence of Chaos and Hojo's modifications, I fell asleep within the mansion basement, and didn't wake up for the next several decades."

Reno stared at him for a moment, and then sat back. "That's it? Maan that ain't scary! That's just stupid! Why would you lock yourself in a coffin?" He chuckled.

Vincent's eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

"I mean … no wondered you – what did you say – fell 'asleep'!" He laughed. "And I think if I was Hojo I'd have locked you in for doing something as stupid as—"

Before he could say anything further, Vincent had jumped up, and there was a crack like a lightening bolt – extinguishing the fire - and suddenly a huge monstrous creature stood before him. Its head was that of a wolf with dark messy unkept fur, long drooling fangs snarling angrily, razor-sharp claws scraping on the warehouse floor and slicing the air, and the creature raised its head and let out a long loud blood-curdling shriek.

With a scream of terror Reno scrambled to his feet and fled the warehouse, locking himself in the small bathroom next to the office, retreating in the corner furthest away from the door and holding himself, shaking.

Vincent transformed back and chuckled quietly, re-lighting the fire before lying down beside it and closing his eyes, falling into a peaceful sleep.


End file.
